If you’re a regular reader of ours, I think it’s safe to assume that you dream in green. What I mean is: that you try to follow a relatively ecologically-minded lifestyle. Maybe you shop at the bio store and regularly frequent our humble natural cosmetics company. But being friendly to the environment doesn’t just go skin deep, it also covers what you use to cover up. Shopping ethically doesn’t mean you have to end up wearing a brown potato sack. Sacrificing style for sustainability is a thing of the past, and in this series, we intend to show you just that. Each time we promise to bring you a green solution that will clear your conscience, all while giving you head-turning looks.

Folkdays is a Berlin-based ethical fashion label, offering beautiful originally-sourced goods. Their products will appeal to those that appreciate new ways of living, but retain a passion for tradition and authentic culture. Each of their pieces is handcrafted from high-quality materials, using designs that combine modern simplicity with tradition. The green label has formed equal and long-lasting partnerships in over 10 developing countries, finding local artisans that are experts in their fields. The result is a relationship that allows these artisans to build thriving sustainable businesses for themselves and their community, all while keeping the tradition of their craft alive. Meanwhile, we are blessed to have access to the best selection of handcrafted goods available, ensuring that we won’t have to sacrifice style or quality for sustainability.

This is in large part thanks to a woman named Lisa Jaspers and a circle of her closest friends, who turned their vision into a reality in 2013. Just recently they opened a physical shop in Berlin, alongside their thriving online shop. I met with Lisa on a windy Berlin morning, and she gave me some insight into how Folkdays was brought to life.

We started off by speaking about her background working with NGOs. Through her work for Oxfam and as a consultant for a developmental aid organization, Lisa began to see that “it [was] especially hard to resolve issues such as a lack of economic development and poverty using NGOs. Because their solutions aren’t sustainable.” She felt that, often times, even though an initiative had a very large budget, it wasn’t “focused on what communities actually needed” and that the people designing the outreach project were often very “distantly connected”.

Her experience traveling and her work in NGOS, combined with the gap in the ethical fashion market for stylish, hip products helped her come up with her unique business concept. Lisa noticed that “there were a lot of people who were still selling craft goods using really amazing materials that were indigenous to their impoverished regions.” A lightbulb went on in Lisa’s brain and she saw the chance for a mutually beneficial partnership. She could start a company in the West that sourced from these skilled artisans, allowing them to create businesses to sustain their communities, all while providing consumers like us with beautifully hand crafted items. This business felt more like a heartfelt connection to these communities, bringing their beautiful traditional crafts into our homes. It also meant, as she said jokingly, “not having a boss anymore”.

The products Folkdays sell have the added benefit of keeping skilled craft traditions alive, in an economy that might not otherwise have space for them (think fast fashion, and cheap dollar store production). A good example is the artisanal hand-woven Pinar Kilim quilt, which is produced from the winter wool of local sheep, and features illustrations of relationships between tribes who live in in the Biainili Lands of Anatolia, Turkey. This carpet allows the women who weave it the chance to make their own income and support their families, all while keeping their story and this traditional craft alive. Whether it be sterling silver earrings hand-made in Peru, or silky summer dresses woven in Cambodia, Folkdays has a wide selection of accessories, jewelry and garments. Each piece follows the same ethical practice of taking a local tradition, combining it with modern simplicity and ensuring it’s sustainable production.

For around three years, Folkdays was simply an online shop (and very elegant online shop at that), but recently they opened a shop in Berlin. “It’s really nice because we finally have a face to the names” gushed Lisa. “It’s really cool to see that we have customers who have a great sense of style and who are actually interested in sustainability issues.” She also noted that having a physical shop “is a really good way to check-in and see if we are sourcing and producing the right products to reach our target market”.

In my personal opinion, the products in their collections couldn’t feel more right. Browsing through the shop, my hands gently stroking soft silky materials, marveling at gorgeous silver jewlery, fan-girling over the cutest black purse, I would be the proud owner of anything they offer. Lisa and I hugged goodbye and I walked away from their Kreuzberg shop, Berlin fall mist in my face—I had already started mentally planning my next visit.

If you want to know more about their amazing artisans and their background, click here to find out. For the Folkdays idea explained in their words, click here.

Shop Folkdays here.
Or visit their shop at Manteuffelstr. 19, Berlin-Kreuzberg